Page:History of Greece Vol I.djvu/155

 AT HAMAS AND PHRYXUS. 123 of the Dorian occupation of Corinth 1, which will be hereafter recounted. "We now pass from Sisyphus and the Corinthian fables to another son of -ZEolus, Athames, whose family history is not less replete with mournful and tragical incidents, abundantly diversified by the poets. Athamas, we are told, was king of Orchomenos ; his wife Nephele was a goddess, and he had by her two children, Phryxus and Helle. After a certain time he neglected Nephele, and took to himself as a new wife Ino, the daughter of Kadmus, by whom he had two sons, Learchus and Melikertes. Ino, looking upon Phryxus with the hatred of a step-mother, laid a snare for his life. She persuaded the women to roast the seed-wheat, which, when sown in this condition, yielded no crop, so that famine overspread the land. Athamas sent to Delphi to implore counsel and a remedy : he received for answer, through the machinations of Ino with the oracle, that the barren- ness of the fields could not be alleviated except by offering Phryxus as a sacrifice to Zeus, The distress of the people com- pelled him to execute this injunction, and Phryxus was led as a victim to the altar. But the power of his mother Nephele snatched him from destruction, and procured for him from Hermes a ram with a fleece of gold, upon which he and his sister Helle mounted and were carried across the sea. The ram took the direction of the Euxine sea and Kolchis : when they were cross- ing the Hellespont, Helle fell off into the narrow strait, which took its name from that incident. Upon this, the ram, who was endued with speech, consoled the terrified Phryxus, and ultimately carried him safe to Kolchis : JEetes, king of Kolchis son of the god Helios and brother of Circe, received Phryxus kindly, and gave him his daughter Chalciope in marriage. Phryxus sacri- ficed the ram to Zeus Phyxios, and suspended the golden fleece in the sacred grove of Ares. Athamas according to some both Athamas and Ino were afterwards driven mad by the anger of the goddess Here ; inso- much that the father shot his own son Learchus, and would also have put to death his other son Melikertes, if Ino had not snatched him away. She fled with the boy, across the Megariau 1 Pausan. ii. 4, 3.